4-1a,V,r=
A Journe
With a screenplay based on author Jane Wen's' award-winning book, "Devil's Arithmetic" begins with
a Passover seder and turns into a surreal tale of the Holocaust. It premieres Sunday on Showtime.
DEBRA L. WALLACE
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
0
pen the door to Elijah,
child, and invite him
in with an open heart,"
16-year-old Hannah
Stern is instructed by her
beloved Aunt Eva during the
family's Passover seder.
The girl, a teenager whose main
preoccupation is hanging out with
her friends, has rejected much of
her Jewish heritage, but she is
strangely drawn into the hall of
filmed near Vilnius, Lithuania, on
her aunt's apartment, and toward
a 10-acre "concentration camp set"
the presence of an eerie light.
designed to resemble Auschwitz.
Transfixed, she follows the light
The film, starring Kirsten
down a hallway, is thrust back in
Dunst (Wag the Dog), Brittany
time — to German-occupied
Murphy (Clueless), Paul Freeman
Poland in 1942 — and begins a
(Raiders of the Lost Ark) and
surrealistic journey, one that will
Louise
Fletcher (One Flew Over
forever change her feelings about
the Cuckoo's Nest),
the past and the
Above; Kirsten Dunst
premieres
8 p.m.
present.
(Hannah), left, Louise
Sunday,
March
28.
This is the
Fletcher (Aunt Eva), center,
time-travel story of and Mimi Rogers (Hannah's The program, just
in time for the
"The Devil's
mother), right, participate
Passover holiday,
Arithmetic," a
in a Passover seder in
seeks to teach an
Showtime feature
"The Devil's Arithmetic."
important lesson about the power
of the human spirit.
What makes this poignant and
often harrowing film distinct from
other Holocaust-themed movies,
said director Donna Deitch, is that
it tells its story from a young per-
son's point of view. It was co-exec-
utive produced by actors Dustin
Hoffman and Mimi Rogers.
"The Devil's Arithmetic" is
based on the popular book of the
same name by author Jane Yolen,
who won a National Jewish Book
JOURNEY on page 86
3/26
1999
Detroit Jewish News
83